Quietly Observant
by OptimisticLady
Summary: Violet Holland likes to stay out of trouble. She likes to be left to her own devices. She likes to keep her head down. All the same, only she would manage sitting in the compartment of the trouble-finding trio, so it all goes to pot from there. PoA and beyond.
1. Train Trouble

After hurrying through the wall at King's Cross with her parents, Violet could not help but smile when she set her eyes upon the red steam train. The mere thought of going back to Hogwarts for her third year was a pleasing one, however she was partially afraid due to the fact that one of the worst criminals to exist had escaped from Azkaban. She hoped they would catch him and put him back where he belonged. Last year it was that bloody massive snake at the school... She was only mildly surprised on finding out it was a Basilisk causing people to become petrified.

And of course, Harry Potter had something to do with putting a stop to that.

Violet was jolted out of her thoughts as her father put his arm around her. She turned and smiled up at him, allowing him to take her trolley to go and load her truck and owl onto the train. Then her mother came and gave her a warm embrace.

"Don't forget to owl me," she said to the girl.

"I won't," Violet relaxed even more so into the hug.

"Stay safe."

"I will."

One final squeeze and then her mother let go and pulled back, giving her daughter a fond look. She tucked a piece of her behind her ears, causing Violet to wave her off and place the hair back where it came from. Her mother simply rolled her eyes in fondness at her daughter. At this point, her father came strolling back up to them and he placed a kiss on the top of head.

Violet was an exact mix of her mother and father. She had her mother's long, dark brown – almost black – hair, along with the hazel, almond shaped eyes; er slim nose with the slight button tip and her thin lips she gained from her father, along with the heart shaped face of his. She was relatively tall for her age, standing at five feet and eight inches, but Violet supposed that was down to puberty and the fact that both her parents were quite tall. Anyone who had been to Hogwarts with her parents could take one look at her and go 'Yes, that's definitely the daughter of Thomas and Ella.'

"You stay out of trouble this year, okay?" Thomas asked her, almost jokingly. The face that Violet pulled was that of an exactly unimpressed teenager.

"It's like you don't even know me."

"I'm just joking, kid." He ruffled the top of her hair and she immediately took a step back, a pout forming on her lips.

"Don't mess up my hair. You do that _every_ year..."

"It's a tradition."

"One that I hate..." she mumbled, quirking an eyebrow at her parents, who were both trying their best not to laugh. They were smirking at her. "Love you," Violet then said.

"We love you too," said Ella, going to give her one more hug. "Oh! You know that Remus is going to be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher this yeah, right?" She then added after stepping back. Violet immediately tensed.

"Remus? Remus John Lupin? Your friend from school and the guy that comes to our house every seasonal holiday, Remus John Lupin?"

"The exact one. Although perhaps don't wear out my name so much – might not seen real to you after a while," came the quiet voice of Remus John Lupin. How he had managed to sneak up behind her parents, Violet would never know. He looked tired – as always – but there was a bit of a mischievous glint in his eyes; a small smile on his weary face; clothes ragged as ever.

Violet's shoulders visibly sagged.

"Hello Violet."

"Hi Remus..."

"That'll be Professor Lupin, now," he replied, smirking just like her parents had been previously as he sidled past them and patted her on the shoulder. "Come on, now, let's find somewhere to sit."

She waited a few seconds, adjusted her satchel, sighed and waving goodbye to her parents before turning to follow the raggedy man (who hadn't deposited his suitcase in the luggage compartments, apparently) to go and sit with him on the train. In all honesty, she just wanted to go and find Parvati, Padma, and Lavender to enjoy her journey to Hogwarts with... but no. If she dared tried to get away from Lupin, she'd look rude and he could probably irritate the hell out of her for the rest of the year. Not that he would do that. Violet couldn't deny he was a nice person, but there was a really... devilish side to him that nobody would expect. He could make good jokes. According to her parents, he used to partake in pranks at school. She didn't want to be on the receiving end of that at all.

"You're awfully quiet," he remarked as they finally came to an empty compartment on the train.

"Thinking about how weird this year will be with you as a teacher," Violet shrugged in response as she watched him pull out a a bottle of water and a cup from his suitcase, placing them on the little table by the window, and then heaving his suitcase to rest on the luggage rack above. She sat down opposite him.

"It won't be that weird," Lupin tried to reassure her.

"Oh yeah, because having a family friend as a teacher isn't weird at all," she snapped in response.

"Then don't let people find out if it bothers you that much," he seemed rather put out by what she was saying.

"I don't mean it like that..." her voice softened. "Sorry, I'm –"

Lupin held up his hand and she quietened down.

"I know exactly why you're uncomfortable about this. Don't worry about it. I also won't play favourites or let anyone else assume that."

"That sounds good." She allowed herself to smile at him, and he returned the gesture before pouring himself some water. After a few moments of silence, he patted the spot next to him. Contemplating whether or not to sit there, Violet eventually moved over. As soon as she did, Lupin pulled out a bar of chocolate from his jacket, unwrapped it, and offered her some. She broke off a piece and popped it in her mouth, letting it melt on its own.

"Thank you," she said, as soon as it was gone. "How much longer until the train leaves?"

Lupin checked his watch.

"Twenty minutes."

"I'm not making small talk. I'm _awful_ at small talk." She shuffled away from him a little and pulled a book from her bag. The title read _Nineteen Eighty Four._ Lupin appeared to approve of the book.

"Fair enough," he said, and wrapped himself up in his cloak and leaned against the window. As Violet began reading, she soon heard gentle snoring sounds as he drifted off into a slumber.

It was truly amazing how easily Violet could get lost in her own world, as she didn't even notice the train set off. As always, that little bubble of hers was popped by people.

"Oh! Violet! Mind if we sit here?"

Violet nearly jumped out of her seat upon hearing the voice, but kept her composure when she realised who it was. Hermione Granger was the one who had spoken, and as always, she was with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

"Go for it," she said, and tried to get back to her book. Suddenly she became a lot more aware of her surroundings, particularly how Hermione and Ron sat opposite from Harry, who had chosen to sit next to her. Now she was wedged between the Boy Who Lived and her dozing family friend. Wonderful.

"Who do you think that is?" Ron asked, referring to Lupin.

"Professor Remus John Lupin," Violet said without looking up from her book. "New Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

She could feel the trio staring at her, and a heat rised in her cheeks.

"I was talking to him before he went to sleep," she then blurted out. She snapped her book shut and shoved it away in her bag, folding her arms in a huff after she did so.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked her carefully.

"Sorry. Yes. I'm fine. I just couldn't find who I wanted to sit with so I ended up in here with the new teacher and then the biggest troublemakers in school. I don't mean that in an offensive way, just so you know." Violet stared at the floor while she spoke, having no desire to make eye contact with any of them.

"You're not wrong there," Harry replied, and she dared look at him to see he was grinning at her. Immediately, she relaxed, and leaned back in her seat in a more comfortable manner. Ron and Hermione stopped staring at her, and once the trio realised she had no interest in what they were saying, they resumed their conversation.

She was just thankful that they took the bait in that she had only been _talking_ to Lupin as if she had just met him. Not as if she had known him for most of her life. He had been the only friend her parents had kept in contact with after leaving Hogwarts, she believed.

Slowly but surely, her head rolled towards her right and she drifted off to sleep too.

* * *

What was it that roused Violet from her slumber?

"Why and how did _he_ end up on my lap?"

She stared down in bleary shock at Harry, whose head was resting in her lap. Taking a look round everyone else's worried faces Violet realised her tone may have been insensitive.

"What happened...?"

Lupin was giving her an odd look.

"I'm can't believe you slept through it."

"Through what?"

"Bloody hell..." Ron muttered.

"Violet, don't move your foot," Hermione warned her, and she got down onto the compartment floor and picked up Harry's glasses. A few minutes later, the boy stirred. Upon realising his head was in someone else's lap, he sat up as quickly as he could, and Hermione handed him back his glasses.

"Here, eat this, it'll help," Lupin held out a piece of chocolate to Harry. Slightly bemused, Harry took the piece of chocolate. Violet raised an eyebrow, but she wasn't surprised in the slightest. Lupin always had a tendency to hand out chocolate after a bad situation.

"What – what was that thing?" Harry glanced at the door. "That came in?"

"It was a Dementor. One of the guards of Azkaban – it's gone now. It was searching the train for Sirius Black." Lupin handed Violet the rest of the bar of chocolate. "If you'll excuse me, I need to have a little word with the driver."

Lupin rose, and as he did so, Violet dropped the bar onto the seat and stood too.

"I'm coming too."

He paused in the doorway and glanced back at her, but nodded all the same. He left the compartment, and she just as Violet was about to, she turned back to Harry.

"Seriously, listen to him." She nodded in the direction that Lupin went. "Shove that down your gob, Potter. You'll feel a lot better afterwards."

As she followed after Lupin, Violet could hear Ron say "something tells me that she didn't just meet him today..." She sighed loud enough for Lupin to hear her as he walked up ahead.

"Everything alright?"

"Just peachy..." she said bitterly, as they passed curious students looking out of their compartments to see if the Dementor had gone.

"Violet..."

"Is it really so bad that I slept through that?!"

Lupin didn't answer her straight away.

"No. It wasn't. It's just surprising, is all."

As soon as they were right at the front of the train, just before the driver's compartment, Lupin took hold of Violet by the shoulders and bent his knees enough so that he was at her height.

"I know you're not my biggest fan, but I promised your mother I _would_ keep an eye on you. She told me you were worried about going back to school because of the breakout from Azkaban, and rightly so. I'll still keep my distance like you want," he told her with the greatest sincerity. Violet chewed on her bottom lip for a moment and gave him one single nod.

Satisfied, Lupin straightened up and knocked on the door, going inside after being beckoned in.

Violet leaned back against the wall and let out a long breath as she sank down onto the floor.

This year was _definitely_ going to be an odd one.

* * *

 **This is actually a rewrite of the first fic I posted on here about 5 years ago! I sincerely hope none of you remember that, because it was god damn awful... it's safe to say I've improved a lot since then.**

 **Thoughts would be lovely :)**

 **-OL.**


	2. Cynical

The relief when Violet found Parvati, Padma, and Lavender when she got off the train was paramount. They all hugged her and wondered where she had gotten to. It weren't as if Violet had been annoyed by the fact she had to sit with the somewhat troublesome trio, but it had unnerved her enough that she knew she didn't want to sit with them again. For the time being, however, she shrugged off her friends' questions until they were out of the rain.

Naturally, that meant when they got into the carriages that seemed to control themselves in order to get up to Hogwarts, they rounded on her once more. She sighed, wringing out her wet hair from the downpour outside.

"Well... I ended up sitting in a compartment with Harry, Ron and Hermione," Violet began to explain. "Also our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. He kind of slept for most of the train journey."

"Ooh, what's he like?" Lavender asked her, looking quite excited. Violet paused for a moment. She didn't want to go into too much detail – she didn't want them figuring out anything like Ron clearly had.

"Quiet. Nice. I don't know. We didn't chat much. It was the only empty compartment, that's why I sat in there..."

"Then Harry and that lot came along. Did they speak to you?"

"Yeah, for a bit. I kind of tuned out of the conversation and went to sleep." She shrugged. "I mean, I could have engaged a bit more, but what they talk about isn't really any of my business, right?"

"Of course it isn't! As much as we all like them – you can't fault them for being lovely people – they _do_ manage to get up to all sorts of dangerous things, don't they?" Parvati input. The girls all muttered in agreement at that. "But tell us what happened! We heard that Harry nearly... well, that he _did_ pass out because of those... things."

"I... I slept through the whole thing... woke up with his head in my lap. It was kind of scary," Violet admitted sheepishly. "I mean... I woke up with a boy's head in my lap – one of the most famous boys in the Wizarding World – and slept through a Dementor attack!"

"Dementors... that rings a bell..." Padma muttered.

"Professor Lupin managed to fend off the one that attacked Harry. He said they guard Azkaban."

Lavender's face drained of colour.

"They're looking for Sirius Black!" she whispered, eyes widening.

Silence fell between the girls, Violet nodding and proceeding to stare out the window. It had been raining for a good few hours now. She hoped it would attempt to let up. Even though they would be taken directly to the castle, there was still the fact that a mass horde of students would be trying to get into the castle all at the same time from the carriages. They were going to be even more soaking wet than they already were.

As soon as the carriages slowed down and they all began to get off, a lightning strike was seen overhead and followed by thunder, causing some of the more ridiculous students to scream and properly try to leg it inside.

Violet and her friends got separated in the crowd. Despite the fact she decided to take it slow so as not to slip over and hurt herself, upon coming into the Entrance Hall, she did just that. Luckily, before anybody could stomp on her fingers in a rush, she was helped up by Harry. She muttered a quick 'thank you' to him before hurrying off to attempt to find the others.

That didn't exactly happen until she got to the Great Hall. Parvati and Lavender were sitting together, while Padma had saved her a spot. They made general chitchat about the summer holidays and what they all got up to (apparently they had all taken a holiday to the same country without even realising it) until the time came for the new first years to be Sorted. Then came Dumbledore's speech, where he introduced Lupin as the new teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Hagrid as the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher.

"Anyone want to take a bet that the first lesson'll be pretty dangerous?" Violet murmured, placing five Galleons on the table in front of her. The girls looked at each other before nodding and placing various amounts on the pile, which Violet scooped up and placed in the pocket of her robes.

"I doubt it'll be that bad..." Parvati hissed. Violet chuckled and turned her attention back to Dumbledore, who was explaining why the Dementors did what they did on the train. Of course they would be spending time at Hogwarts until Sirius Black was caught...

Finally they could talk properly when the feast began.

"Seriously, why do you want to take a bet like that?!" Lavender was amused for the most part.

"Oh come on! I did it for Lockhart last year."

"The bet was for how long he could 'keep up the cheesy grin' and therefore wasn't as offensive," Parvati pointed out as she helped herself to some roast potatoes.

"Seriously, everybody knows that Hagrid likes his dangerous animals... did you not hear about the dragon he had while we were in first year?" Violet frowned, concerned as to how they _didn't_ know that fact, going by the looks on their faces.

"How did _you_ know about the dragon?"

Apparently Harry had been listening to their conversation (it was hard for him not to, considering he was right next to Violet at the table), and he didn't look too thrilled about what Violet had been saying – particularly in regards to the bet. She stared at him for a good few moments before answering.

"You know how sometimes I fall asleep on the sofa in the common room?"

"Yes."

"You... you do realise that you and your friends aren't the quietest people in the world..." she said carefully.

"Oh." Harry's face fell for a split second, before he remembered that he was not best pleased with what Violet had been saying. "Why are you taking that bet on Hagrid, though? It's not like he's done anything wrong."

"I tend to get my perks from a bit harmless betting, like how you get your perks out of doing dangerous stuff," she replied coolly.

Everybody in the vicinity who had heard what she had said to Harry went quiet for a moment. It didn't matter if they were on the Gryffindor table or the surrounding one, the chatter just seemed to _stop._ A chorus of 'oooooohhhhs' erupted from the Gryffindors, namely from Fred and George Weasley.

"Never realised you had the wit streak, Holland," Fred said.

"That's because I don't overuse it, thanks very much."

"Fair play." He went back to his dinner. It weren't as if Fred had lost interest in the conversation – it was more to do with the fact that he didn't know the girl well enough to attempt a reparte with her.

Harry was still staring at Violet to the point where it bothered her so much she put down her knife and fork and turned to face him, arms folded and highly unimpressed.

"Yes?"

"That's not nice."

"I did it to Lockhart last year. It's not like I'm picking on Hagrid, but if I say I drop the bet will you stop glaring daggers at me for the rest of the year?"

"Fine," Harry murmured, rolling his eyes and finally going back to his own food, meaning that Violet could do the same in peace. She turned back to her friends and merely winked, letting them know that the bet was still on. At the moment she couldn't really give a damn about what Harry thought. It was their bit of fun, not his.

The conversation became much lighter as they discussed what subjects they were taking this year, with Violet still torn between Divination and Ancient Runes. She wasn't sure if Divination would be a waste of time (although Parvati and Lavender were adamant that she do it) but Ancient Runes seemed like something more useful in the future.

"Just talk to Professor McGonagall tomorrow morning!" Parvati said. "But Divination seems _so_ interesting... I've always been fascinated by the idea of interpreting dreams and possibly the future..."

"Or I could always catch McGonagall after dinner? I'd rather not have her waste her time tomorrow morning during breakfast fussing about my timetable..."

"Good point. Do you want us to come with you?"

"I should be alright going on my own. Thanks, though." Violet smiled at her. She appreciated the fact that Parvati wanted the group to go with Violet to speak to McGonagall, but it wasn't necessary. They liked to stick as a group a lot, but they had grown used to Violet wanting to go off on her own every now and then. They realised she did enjoy her own company as well, more as a way to wind down from the day than anything.

That was why the entirety of the Gryffindor house had become accustomed to walking down into the common room in the mornings and finding Violet fast asleep on one of the sofas with a book on her chest. During her first year, the Prefects had been mildly concerned but when they realised it was just a _thing_ that she did, the worry went away and they let her continue with her little routine in peace.

Soon enough, dinner was over and Violet had to fight against the crowd of students rushing to get out of the Great Hall, just so she could get to the staff table. Once close enough, she began to call out her Head of House's name.

"Professor McGonagall! _Professor McGonagall!_ "

That was enough to get the Scottish teacher's attention. Enough to stop her from leaving the table too quickly.

"Yes, Miss Holland?"

"You know I was having difficulty deciding my subjects?"

"Oh yes, I remember."

"Ancient Runes. Final decision." Violet was pretty much beaming at this point, and McGonagall appeared somewhat pleased.

"Very well. Thank you for telling me _before_ the timetables were handed out tomorrow."

Violet wasn't sure if it was just a trick of the light or not, but she could have sworn that there was a tiny little smirk on McGonagall's face. A very rare thing for the teacher, but Violet could easily assume it was because she was in her good books for a majority of the time. Well – almost _all_ of the time.

"Thank you, Professor."

"Off to bed with you now." She pretty much began shooing the girl away, and Violet nodded hurriedly before turning back around and making her way out of the Great Hall, a good way behind her fellow students.

She shoved her hands in her pockes and began to hum a happy tune to herself as she walked casually over to the Grand Staircase, however was stopped in her tracks by a voice behind her.

"Ancient Runes. That was a subject I took in school, you know."

"You have _got_ to stop doing that." Violet didn't even look over her shoulder to address Lupin, but continued on walking and he fell into step beside her.

"I couldn't help but eavesdrop while I was on my way out."

"You were at the other end of the table. Clearly you came past McGonagall just so you could hear what we were talking about."

Lupin chuckled as they ascended the stairs.

"Ever the observant child, Violet."

"I'm not a child anymore."

"You're not quite fourteen yet."

" _Really?!_ I wasn't aware..."

He sighed. "Am I to expect this much sass and sarcasm from you in class? Our first lesson is later this week you know."

"Depends on if you plan on creeping up on me every time you see me. I thought we had an agreement." She was glaring daggers at him by now.

"Nobody's around," he pointed out. "That wasn't part of the agreement."

"Fine. Enjoy your little loophole, _Professor_." Violet was progressively becoming more agitated. "I have a book to carry on reading before I sleep tonight. Good night, Professor."

Lupin could only watch as Violet practically ran up the stairs from the third floor.

Really, she just wanted to get back to her book. It was lucky she caught the last few straggling Gryffindors walking through the doorway behind the Fat Lady's portrait otherwise she would have been shut out of the common room. She hadn't exactly caught up with knowing the password yet. Before she went to grab her book she asked Fred who kindly told her that the password for the time being was _'Fortuna Major.'_

"Ha! 'Great Fortune.' If only we had that, and Sirius Black wouldn't be out and about, would he?"

This grabbed George's attention and he stared at his twin in disbelief.

"You're a cynical one, aren't you?"

She shrugged. "Can't help it. Sort of going through my early grumpy teenage years."

* * *

 **I have everything for this story planned out. There's gonna be so much Remus Lupin you're gonna be sick of him by the end of it. Well - not really, but extra Remus Lupin is all that we want in life tbh.**

 **Comment?  
**

 **-OL.**


	3. First Day

Professor Babbling was the exact opposite of her name, Violet discovered. She was not a fool, as the name meant, nor did she in fact babble on. In fact, she was so concise while teaching, that Violet wondered whether the notes she had written would be substantial enough for revision.

Needless to say, the class was interesting. She was learning a key ancient language after all, one that would help her understand where various parts of modern language came from, as well as all the suspicions surrounding various numbers and what magical creatures represented what numbers. That part was odd. Violet hadn't been expecting to find out that creatures meant numbers as well.

Considering that that was just the overview, she couldn't wait to get properly started in the subject, and actually find out more about it in more depth. All throughout the lesson she had been sat next to Hermione, who most definitely shared the same enthusiasm for it as she did.

By the time lunch came around, the two girls were amicably chatting away about what the class would entail for the next few years, how hard it would be... generic hypothetical chat. Violet was also grateful for the fact that Hermione didn't bring up the little incident at dinner the previous night.

Then Hermione seemed to disappear.

One minute, they had been walking through a crowd and chatting, the next, Violet had been coming out of the crowd on her own.

That was when she spotted Hermione at the bottom of the staircase on the third floor. Violet ran to catch up to her.

"Hey! How did you get all the way down here?"

Hermione seemed a little breathless, but simply waved off what Violet was saying and insisted that they go to lunch right away, a statement which confused Violet because they had already established that fact.

Although, walking into the Great Hall with Hermione was worth it to see the surprise on Harry and Ron's faces. Even more so when Hermione pretty much dragged Violet to sit with their trio.

"Where did you get to?" Harry asked the bushy haired girl. Again, Hermione waved it off.

"How was Ancient Runes?" As per usual, Ron had his mouth stuffed full.

"Wonderful," the girls said at the same time. The boys stared between the two of them, mildly confused. Ron swallowed his food.

"I... I was asking Violet. I mean, you were in Divination with us..."

A couple of things began to click together in Violet's brain. Her expression became subdued as she thought over the fact that Hermione had been in Divination and Ancient Runes, which ran at the same time. Two places at once.

One would almost think it were _magic._

Nevertheless, while there was obviously something fishy going on with Hermione, Violet knew it was probably none of her business anyway and she shouldn't attempt to dig deeper and satisfy whatever curiosity she had. She managed to push the thoughts to the back of her mind and turned her attention back to the conversation.

"...And Trelawney's basically predicted my death," Harry finished, glumly.

"Oh, so _you're_ that one guy, this year..." Violet commented, munching her way through some chicken.

"What?"

She held up her finger to signal for Harry to give her a moment while she finished what she was eating.

"McGonagall caught me on the way out of here this morning, just chatting to me about how great it was that I ended up taking Ancient Runes instead of Divination... anyway, she said that every year she always predicts the death of a student, but none of them have died yet. You'll be fine!"

The cheeriness in her voice didn't really do anything to help Harry's nerves, going by the look on his face, but Violet shrugged it off and carried on eating in silence.

The rest of their lunch hour passed in a quiet fashion, not that that bothered Violet in the slightest. Considering she still had some time before a Potions class, she opted to sit in one of the quiet spots in the Entrance Courtyard and actually finish reading the book she had been interrupted so many times while reading.

Her satisfaction when she actually _did_ finish reading _Nineteen Eighty Four_ was short lived, because she only had about five minutes to get to Potions.

An angry Professor Snape was the last thing she needed – she'd managed to somehow stay on his good side for the past two years, and Violet didn't fancy starting out third year on his bad side. Not that she was sure he had a good side. She meant good side in that she'd never had a telling off or points deducted _or_ a detention from the man. That was sheer luck for a Gryffindor, she supposed.

The tall girl sprinted for Potions, and arrived at the same time as Snape did. Violet skidded to a halt in front of him and the pair stared at each other for a moment or two, Snape's dark eyes deciding what to do about the situation before he more or less kicked the door open and pointed inside.

"Sorry, sir," Violet mumbled as she went in. Technically, she hadn't been late, but it seemed the safe thing to do.

Sheer luck seemed to strike her again; apart from a few glares tossed in her direction, Potions was a breeze for Violet.

She had a little routine before dinner, too.

Always, after class, Violet would opt to take a walk around the grounds as a means of clearing her head before even touching her homework and thinking about food. It eased her into the next portion of the day in a better way, and it stopped her from fretting. She always went on her own too; she enjoyed being lost in her own thoughts – or lack thereof.

It was still warm considering it was only the start of September, so that meant before dinner people would be relaxing by the Black Lake, occasionally dipping their feet in and whatnot. The weather had definitely cleared up after the rainstorm from the previous night.

Eventually Violet found herself sitting on one of the boulders than overlooked the lake, and as she gazed out over the horizon, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention and she immediately regret even coming out there in the first place. Sighing at the fact her moment of peace was now effectively ruined, Violet grabbed her bag and hopped off the boulder, beginning to power walk her way back up to Hogwarts.

"Loopholes! What is it with you and the loopholes?!" Violet called over her shoulder to Lupin.

"I just wanted to see how your first day back went..." he murmured as he jogged to catch up with her.

"So you followed me?"

"Parents' request."

That definitely made Violet slow down.

"Seriously?" She glanced at Lupin to see if he was pulling her leg or not. Going by the look on his face, he was not. "But why?"

"The state of the Wizarding World, Violet. They're worried about your safety."

"Oh yes, because having _you_ keep an eye on me is _so much better,_ " she responded bitterly.

"Violet, I'm your teacher now, you can't keep using that tone with me." There was a dark note in Lupin's voice to suggest he wasn't impressed. Violet had heard it before, so it didn't really phase her in the slightest. As of right now, she just wanted to be left alone before someone noticed.

"Well then use the Floo Network to tell my parents I'm _fine_ , okay?" Shaking her head, Violet ran off and back inside Hogwarts, and when she finally made it up to Gryffindor Tower, she was hounded by her friends.

"We need to ask you something," Parvati said, as she and Lavender literally dragged Violet up to the girls' dormitory, much to the latter's dismay.

They say her down on her bed and folded their arms as they stared at her.

"What's the deal with you and Professor Lupin? We looked over the window and saw you pretty much running away from him on the grounds!"

"Straight to the point, Parvati, I see..." Violet groaned in annoyance and flopped backwards onto the bed. "You make it sound worse than it actually is."

"Then what _is_ it?!" Lavender's voice was shrill.

"I'm gonna tell you, but you can't repeat a word of this to anyone – don't even let Lupin know that you know, okay?"

Parvati and Lavender moved to either side of Violet's bed so that they were in her eye line, even while she was staring up at the ceiling of her four-poster bed.

"We promise," they said at the same time.

"He's a family friend." There was no point dancing around the matter now. "And it's really inconvenient for me, because he wants to keep checking up on me. It's really irritating – _he's_ really irritating."

"But he seems so nice!" Lavender protested. "And you don't seem to like him at all..."

"Well, when you've had to be babysat by the guy before, you'll understand, trust me," Violet responded in a dry sort of way. "You do realise how weird this is for me, right?"

"Of course we do..." Parvati assured her. "And we definitely won't say anything. We're not like that."

"I know you're not, but this is mildly embarrassing and if anyone else figured it out–"

"Does Dumbledore know?" Lavender asked.

"Yep. Of course he does. He knows _everything_ , I swear to god..." Violet paused a moment. "Can I do my homework now?"

"Nope. We're going to dinner a bit earlier. Come on." Lavender pulled Violet up off the bed, but she wriggled out of her grip.

"Seriously, I really need to get a start on this before I end up in a back log… Remember the last time I got in a back log?"

"As yes, the back log of May earlier this year. You kept drinking coffee at breakfast and then didn't sleep for two days, just because you forgot to write down some revision notes," Parvati recalled. "We'll leave you to it then, but if you show up late for dinner you'll get a telling off. It's only the first day!"

Violet let out a little nervous laugh. "I like to stay on top of things."

The two other girls babbled on about goodness knows what when the three of them went down to the Common Room, and while they left, Violet set herself at the table in the corner next to Hermione, who was poring over their Ancient Runes textbook. Violet asked Hermione where she had gotten up to, and then began reading and writing whatever was necessary too. In the end, the pair of them went down to dinner with Harry and Ron, where the talk of the table seemed to be the Care of Magical Creatures lesson that would occur the next day, and what it would entail.

Violet chucked a sneaky wink over to Parvati, who stifled her giggles much to the confusion of anybody else who wasn't in the loop on their small bet. She had about five Galleons riding on the lesson being dangerous, and she wasn't going to lose that money. Not yet, anyway.

* * *

 **Hello, I'm back! I was settling into university, hence the bit of a hiatus.**

 **I know it's short, but I hope it's enjoyable nonetheless. I'm trying to do a bit of a mix of the book/film canon; hopefully it'll work out with what I've got in mind.**

 **Comment?**

 **-OL.**


	4. Bets and Hippogriffs

Sure enough, all the Gryffindors were excited for their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson – mainly because it was going to be with Hagrid. The only downside was having to share that class with the Slytherins. There was also a bit of a buzz in the girls' dormitory that morning, because Violet's bet was about to come into play.

"Alright, alright, keep it down before Hermione wanders back in..." she tried to hush down her friends. "Even though half the year have got in on this…" Lavender giggled.

"It's not like she'll dob on you and tell Harry or the teachers though!"

Both Violet and Parvati stared _very_ hard at Lavender, who shrank a little underneath their gaze, while Padma was holding back a laugh.

"As much as she's lovely, it's the sort of thing she'd do. So _shh._ And let's get down to breakfast before we run out of time."

When they were out of the dorm and on their way down, Parvati, Padma and Lavender carried on babbling away about the bet and goodness knows what else, while Violet strolled on ahead lost entirely in her own thoughts. In all honesty, she did feel a _little_ bit bad about placing money on Hagrid because he always supported Gryffindor, and from what she could tell, he had a bigger heart than most people she knew.

Although that book he had set their year had been a bit of a puzzle to figure out how to open. She just about figured it out the night before: she'd absent-mindedly ran her hand down the spine of the ravenous book and it suddenly relaxed, opening up for her. She'd shared that new bit of information with her friends and now they were pretty happy with the book, even if it did still occasionally try to bite them all.

Considering how she barely paid any attention to her surroundings when completely inside her own head, it came as no surprise to Violet that she had ended up walking right into the Weasley twins. She mumbled a quick apology and tried to walk off, but instead they decided to take this moment to accost her; she was wedged between them two of them with their arms around her.

"So Holland, we heard your bet is still on..." began Fred.

"And we'd quite like in it," George carried on.

"I know we're not third years, but still – love a good bet."

"Oh my god," was all Violet could say. "Fine. Have at it."

The twins beamed down at her and she sighed. She dragged them off to the side and pulled out the bit of parchment she'd been keeping the amounts down on, and her quill. Setting up on the nearby windowsill, Violet wrote down how much Fred and George were willing to bet (and therefore potentially pay up), which side they were going for, and off they went without her.

Packing up her things, Violet moved back out onto the staircase to find that Parvati, Padma and Lavender had caught up with her.

"What was that all about?" Parvati asked her.

"Doing business with Fred and George. I accidentally walked right into them when I wandered off ahead." She wasn't too pleased about _literally walking into_ the biggest pair of troublemakers in the school, but Violet knew she would just have to deal with that anyway.

Eventually they made it down to the Great Hall for breakfast, and were surprised to find they still had enough time to actually eat at a leisurely pace. Violet couldn't help but notice the occasional glances that Harry kept tossing in her direction – it was as if he knew that she was still up to something – and at one point, Violet poked her tongue out at him. It took him aback, but then she saw him smiling a bit into his cereal.

Violet could be funny if she wanted to; she just didn't have time for it, mostly. She'd rather have her head stuck in a book instead of pulling faces and making jokes half the time.

There was some apprehension from everyone when it was time to make their way down to the grounds for Care of Magical Creatures; the amount of chatter about what Hagrid could possibly be showing them in their first lesson made a lot of people uneasy, even though the ideas they were coming up with were pretty outlandish.

The Gryffindors arrived earlier than the Slytherins – as was to be expected – and once everyone had arrived, Hagrid told them to follow him.

They all walked to a little clearing that was just on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, where everyone (mainly Malfoy) grumbled about how to open their books, since Hagrid had told them to do that. Violet and her friends felt pretty smug that they already knew how to do it, and people were following their suit before Hagrid could tell them what to do. Although Neville Longbottom still hadn't quite managed it, and his book was attacking him.

Everyone had perched themselves on logs or rocks at this point and were laughing at Neville. Violet pulled off her cloak and ran over to the poor boy.

"Come here..." She gingerly took the book away from him and ran her hand down the spine, causing it to shudder and then open right up. She flipped to the necessary page, helped Neville up and gave the book back to him.

"Th – thanks," he said.

"Don't mention it." Violet hurried back over to her friends and hopped up onto the rock they were clustered around.

As ever, there was an argument going on between Harry and his friends, and Malfoy and his friends. The Slytherins childishly tried to trick Harry into thinking that a Dementor had popped up behind them – Violet rolled her eyes, but she wasn't sure if it was at Malfoy, or at Harry for actually turning around. She'd seen first hand how he reacted when Dementors were about – was he really that thick as to _believe_ Malfoy?

Hagrid then got their attention once more, because he was now with a half eagle-half horse creature. Violet looked down at her book to see it was called a Hippogriff. Instead of listening to Hagrid rambling on about what they were like and how to act around them, she instead decided to read the few pages there were on the creature.

She'd probably need a few more manners if she ever wanted to ride one. Maybe that could be saved for a few years down the line. She wanted to be a grumpy bookworm of a teenager for now.

What did bring her attention back to the world, was Harry being picked to approach the Hippogriff. Or more accurately, the entire class had taken about four steps back and Harry hadn't noticed.

 _Bloody hell, Potter, you're really not that smart sometimes…_ she thought. He looked terrified at the thought of having to approach the Hippogriff – what was it's name? She hadn't caught it.

Harry did well, though, bowing to the creature and then going up to pat it on the head. The whole class applauded, possibly because of how tense it had been.

"I think you might lose your own bet, Violet," Padma whispered up to her. Violet held up a finger.

"Class still isn't over yet… who knows what could happen?"

Apparently, Harry flying on the Hippogriff was something that could happen.

"Maybe he'll fall off..." Violet muttered. Her friends stared at her in shock. "Oh come on, I didn't say _'I hope he dies,'_ just fall off and hurt himself enough to prove that Hippogriffs are kind of dangerous..."

"Uh, I think the fact you have to _bow_ to it is proof of danger."

"There's no proof until someone gets hurt, in my opinion." Violet now took this opportunity to take off her jumper – it was fairly sunny and warm outside, and she was following suit of most of the other students there. She then reached down into her bag and brought out yet another Muggle fiction book and got stuck in. That signaled the end of that conversation.

Violet didn't really pay much attention to the Hippogriff landing successfully (she let out an audible sigh at the fact it was successful), but everybody was applauding once more.

That soon turned to screaming.

She dropped her book and jumped off the rock to see that Malfoy had been attacked by the Hippogriff.

"Oh my god it's killed me! It's killed me!" The boy was whimpering on the ground.

"Calm down, it's just a scratch!" Hagrid was fretting, which was when Hermione stepped up.

"Hagrid, he has to be taken to the hospital wing."

"Oh man," Violet couldn't keep the joy out of her voice. "The common room is gonna go nuts tonight."

"Class dismissed!" Hagrid called out as he picked up Malfoy and walked back up towards the castle.

The amount of chatter going on now was quite something.

Knowing she was probably going to be hounded by other students – as was always the way after a bet finished – Violet hastily put her books away, picked up her bag, jumper and cloak, and began to run up to Hogwarts. This was the only time of year she was incredibly sociable, and she needed some alone time before it actually happened. Then, things would go back to normal afterwards and she would be able to stay hidden behind her books once more.

Violet stopped running when she reached the Clocktwoer Courtyard, completely out of breath, but highly amused. She sat down on one of the benches to rest for a moment – it was break time anyway, and so there was time until her next lesson. The common room was going to be fun tonight, that was for certain.

As per usual, her book was out again, and Violet didn't stop reading until she absolutely had to go to her next lesson, which was Potions.

Naturally, Malfoy wasn't even in Potions. He was probably being bandaged up in the Hospital Wing still, and potentially whining some more. There were some murmurs among the Gryffindors that Snape swiftly shut up, but other than that, Potions went by smoothly.

Things got interesting at lunchtime. Malfoy was back with his arm strapped up, and he was whinging so much that the entire Great Hall could hear him. The amount of eye rolling that was occurring at the Gryffindor table was far too intense, until–

"He's been sighted! He's been sighted!" Seamus burst out as he read through a copy of the _Daily Prophet._

"Who?" someone asked.

"Sirius Black!"

The Gryffindors were huddling round Seamus and the newspaper now, and Hermione took it upon herself quickly scan through the article. "Dufftown! That's not far from here..."

"You don't think he'd come to Hogwarts, do you?" Neville was worried, as most people were.

"With Dementors at every entrance?" said Dean.

"Well he got past them once, so I wouldn't put it past him to do it again," Violet said, causing everyone in the huddle to look at her. "What? I'm worried too, but it's just the… most… okay, I'll stop talking now."

* * *

Harry, Ron and Hermione were some of the last ones to come back up to Gryffindor Tower after dinner. The minute the got inside, they wondered what was going on – there was far too much shouting, and most people seemed to be standing in a large crowd around something.

Actually, it was a someone.

Violet's head popped up out the top of the crowd, and the trio realised she was probably standing on a table.

"Shut it!" she yelled out, and they all quietened down. She lowered her voice, "Thank you. Now, a majority of you are on the _losing_ side of the bet, so you're not getting any of your money back."

"She still went through with it?" Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione.

"Of course she did, she does it every year," the latter replied, before going over to one of the empty tables and setting herself up to do work for the evening. Meanwhile, Harry and Ron continued to watch with fascination.

"There were only ten of us who actually got it right – honestly, I expected more of you to get it right – and half of those are Gryffindors, one of them being me," Violet carried on. She held up a bit of parchment and read from it. "Fred and George Weasley, Parvati Patil, and Lavender Brown. We get a nice hefty cut from the money. I'll have to hunt down the other students tomorrow."

The loud groan that came from the crowd was laughable. Violet rolled up the piece of parchment.

"Sorry everyone! Hope you had fun though – next year we'll be going back to Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, because let's face it: they're more fun. Thank you!"

She disappeared from view, but then Harry saw the back of her head as she ran up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

"Guess we won't hear from her again until next year," Ron commented, shrugging, now going to sit with Hermione.

"Yeah. Probably." Harry went to join his friends. There was something weird about Violet, and it was most likely down to the fact she never really spoke to anyone, but managed to gain the attention of the masses with silly little games.

* * *

 **Woops, been a while again! I've gotten into a nice writing routine though, so expect weekly updates from now on!**

 **Comment?**

 **-OL.**


	5. The Boggart

If anything, everyone was very much looking forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Lupin, although Violet had a hidden apathy about it. Well, it wasn't so hidden to Parvati and Lavender, but to everybody else in their year it was.

So they all made their way up to the classroom after lunch to find that Lupin had moved all the desks and chairs aside, along with having a rattling wardrobe down the front of the room.

"Leave your bags at the back, please," he told them as they all entered.

Many of the students exchanged some curious looks but did as he asked them nonetheless. Then they all stood in the large space that had clearly been left for them, waiting for Lupin to start the class. The Slytherins congregated at the back of the crowd, while the Gryffindors were at the front.

The rattling in the wardrobe had stopped, and now whatever was on the inside would just thump on the odd occasion.

"This is going to be a good lesson," Parvati whispered next to Violet.

"I'm not counting on it," Violet murmured in response. She fell silent when Lupin came to stand in front of the class.

"Can anybody tell me what that is?" He shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded back towards the wardrobe.

"That's a Boggart, that is," piped up Dean.

 _Of course it was a bloody Boggart…_ Violet thought, her palms beginning to sweat a little bit.

"Very good, Mr Thomas. Now can anybody tell me what a Boggart looks like?"

"They don't look like anything," Violet said. "So nobody knows."

"And why is that?"

"They take the shape of whatever the person fears the most," Hermione's voice suddenly filled the room, and Violet turned to see the girl standing with Harry and Ron behind her. That was odd. She hadn't seen her come in with them. "That's what makes them so terrifying."

"Yes, very good. Now, does anybody know the charm to repel a Boggart?"

" _Riddikulus_ ," Violet replied. Lupin nodded.

"Now, I'd like us to try the charm – without wands please – so, repeat after me: _Riddikulus._ "

The entire class chanted it back at him without enthusiasm, which was surprising considering how excited they had all been to get to the lesson. Then again, it was a class of thirteen and fourteen year olds – they were changeable.

Lupin raised an eyebrow at them all. "A little louder, and very clear."

They repeated it again and he was satisfied.

"So much for the easy part. You see, the incantation alone isn't enough. What really finishes a Boggart is laughter. You need to force it to assume a shape you find truly amusing." He paused for a moment. "Let me explain... Neville, would you come forward please?"

The boy in question looked terrified, but went towards the Professor all the same.

"Hello, Neville. What frightens you the most?" Lupin asked him.

Neville mumbled something incoherently.

"Sorry?"

"Professor Snape."

The whole class let out a chuckle, although for most of the Gryffindors it was more of a nervous one – a teacher who was so vile, that he had become a student's worst fear. If anything, that showed how badly Snape mistreated the boy in his lessons since first year onwards. It was awful, and it shouldn't have been like that.

"Yes… he frightens all," Lupin mused, trying to actually add some humour into it. "I believe you live with your grandmother?"

"Yes, but I don't want the Boggart to turn into her either!" Neville told him frantically.

"No. It won't. I want you to picture her clothes – only her clothes – very clearly in your mind."

"She carries a red handbag..."

Lupin was shaking his head. "We don't need to hear. As long as you see it, we'll see it. Now, when I open that wardrobe, here's what I want you to do..."

He approached Neville and whispered something in his ear. Neville then nodded and Lupin drew his wand.

"Wand at the ready!" Lupin told him, and Neville did just that, pulling it out of his cloak. "One… two… three."

With a flick, the wardrobe unlocked and out came Professor Snape. Lupin moved off to the side and was watching Neville intently, waiting for him to do something. When Neville _did_ eventually say the incantation, the Boggart-Snape stumbled back, his usual black attire transforming into that of an elderly woman's. The most notable things were the bright red handbag, the vulture hat and the scarf, which seemed to look like a ferret.

"Wonderful, Neville, wonderful!" Lupin was laughing. "Incredible! Okay, to the back Neville, everyone form a line!"

Now the class was excited, and they were pretty much pushing and shoving each other in order to be closer to the front – they were all desperate to have a go.

If anything Violet wanted to be closer to the back, but unfortunately she only had two people in front of her – those being Ron and Parvati. She glanced behind her to see that Harry was there.

"Switch places with me," she told him.

"Why?"

"Switch place with me, please?"

"Are you alright?" Harry frowned.

Violet let out a frustrated groan and faced the front again; her palms were still incredibly clammy, if not even more so, and she felt her left arm tingling.

It was entertaining to watch Ron have the spider end up with a pair of roller skates on the ends of its spindly legs, and she whispered a good luck in Parvati's ear when she went up next. She knew that her friend absolutely hated snakes, and after last year she really didn't blame her. She couldn't help but smile when Parvati turned the snake into a jack in a box.

When it came to Violet's turn, a light frown replaced the smile on her face. Obviously she knew exactly what was going to come up, and it left her with a pit in her stomach. All the same, she stepped up and waited for the jack in a box to change.

Suddenly it began to shift through black shapes and then a full sized werewolf was in front of her. It squared up to her, and she to it, pointing her wand at the bloody thing. For a moment, she forgot the spell.

"Come on, Violet..." she heard Lupin say.

The werewolf began to growl at her; snap at her, edging forward on its hind legs and standing tall.

" _Rid - Riddikulus_!" she cried out just as it went to leap at her, turning into a sweet little husky puppy in the process. It happily yapped and barked, causing the whole class to "awww" at it.

Violet had already retreated to the back of the class at this point, clearly rattled by what had happened. It didn't matter that it wasn't real, she was still frightened. She had still thought it was going to take a swipe at her.

She just about registered the fact that Harry's Boggart had turned into a Dementor; even worse was that Lupin had stepped in front so Harry didn't have to deal with it. Then the Boggart turned into a moon which Lupin managed to get rid of, causing a balloon to whizz around the classroom and then forced back into the cupboard.

Even though the class was dismissed early, she didn't go along with them. Violet stood there, clutching her left forearm and wringing it very tightly.

"Violet?" Harry stopped by her side on his way out, holding her satchel for her.

"I need to talk to Professor Lupin..." she said, distracted, ceasing in the wringing of her arm. Wordlessly taking her bag, she wandered over to the professor who had been watching them. Harry lingered for a moment before leaving.

"Would you like a cup of tea in my office?" he asked her. She nodded, and he led the way to the back of the classroom and up the stairs into the quaint office.

Silently she sat down at Lupin's desk, watching as he pottered about with the teapot and prepared the pair of them the hot beverage. When they were both sitting together at the desk, Violet quietly sipped on her tea for a moment and waited for Lupin to say something.

"I didn't do that on purpose, you know."

She nodded. "I know."

"I was surprised at how scared you were." He was sipping on his own tea now.

"As soon as Dean mentioned it was a Boggart, I started sweating," she admitted, setting her tea down. Her now free hand immediately went back to wringing at her opposite arm once more.

"Stop doing that." Even though Lupin's voice held warning, his expression was soft.

"It never healed properly..."

"Because you kept doing that all the time and wouldn't let it," Lupin sighed, coming round to kneel down next to her seat. "May I?"

Violet shrugged. "Go for it."

Carefully, he pulled up her cloak and jumper sleeve, before unbuttoning the cuff of her shirt and rolling that up too. "You don't leave it alone, do you?" he muttered, staring at the bright red scratch marks. His thumb lightly ran over them, and Violet flinched.

Lupin looked up to see there were tears in her eyes, and for some reason that was enough to actually remind she was just a thirteen year old girl who hadn't wanted to look in the face of her worst nightmare ever again. She was still young, but had been even younger when she'd been scratched by that werewolf.

"I'm sorry I did this to you," he said, pulling her into a hug. She didn't return it, but she let herself cry into his robes.

 _That werewolf_ being him.

"It still happened. I don't understand why my parents still trust you."

"It was five years ago and an honest accident." Lupin pushed her away from him so that he could see her face, even though she was staring down at her lap. He held her by the shoulders. "And your parents raised you not to be prejudice, yes?"

Violet nodded.

"Hate me all you like – I know I can't take back what I did, but I have been friends with your parents for far longer than you have been alive. Do you understand that?"

She nodded again.

"Violet, look at me."

She glanced up at him and held his gaze.

"They still trust me because they _know_ it was a mistake. I'm their friend and they _know_ it won't happen again. Why do you think they asked me to keep an eye on you if they didn't trust me? They're the only friends I have left."

"Okay," she said after a few moments, and peeled herself from his grip.

Violet wiped her eyes and sorted out her sleeves before picking up her satchel. "Thanks for the tea," she mumbled, making her way out of the office.

She hated that fact that everything with Lupin felt like an endless apology from him, and it had been like that since she was eight years old. It was too much sometimes, and that was partly why she had a general dislike of Lupin – she didn't full out _hate_ him, but there was a dislike there.

She trudged across the classroom and out into the corridor, where Harry was waiting and leaning against the wall. As soon as he saw Violet, he came up to her.

"What do you want, Potter?" She wasn't in the mood to talk.

"I can see why you wanted to switch places, and I'm sorry I didn't."

"You're perky for someone who just faced fear itself. You okay?"

He seemed taken aback by her question. "Yeah… yeah, I'm fine. Are you?"

"I was scratched by a werewolf when I was eight, kept on picking at the wound constantly so that it never closed up properly, _and_ I just had to look at a werewolf again. Not fine is my answer to your question, and I'm pretty glad we have Transfiguration next."

"You were scratched by a werewolf? Doesn't that–"

"No it doesn't, Potter," she let out a breath, "Might do you some good to pick up a book, eh?"

She turned and smiled at him, and he gave her a bemused one back.

"You sound like Hermione sometimes."

"Or Hermione sounds like me. Besides, I'm a lot less scary… well – I hide behind the books more."

"Which is what you're going to do in Transfiguration, aren't you?"

Violet nodded. "You're got me down to a T, Potter."

He chuckled at that, and was oddly grateful for a bit of company on the way down to their next lesson. Harry was beginning to find it odd that he'd never made proper conversation with Violet before – that might have been down to the fact she was always hiding in a corner not wanting to be disturbed, and that was fair enough – but she was interesting to talk to. It was strange how she always had something to say for a relatively quiet person.

Maybe that was why – she was saving up her thoughts to say something good. Even though they'd fallen into silence now, it was quite a nice silence. She didn't look at him weirdly during it, and she most definitely didn't stare at his scar like most people did. It had been two years since he'd started Hogwarts and apparently that novelty hadn't worn off with some people – not to mention any new first years would just gawp at him.

"We're late, by the way," Violet piped up suddenly, "So you can tell McGonagall why." She gave Harry a bit of a grin, and he merely shook his head.

* * *

 **Yeah, so expect updates once a week from now on. Hope you all enjoyed this! I'm getting there slowly with Violet somehow integrating with the trio (much to her dismay, actually, particularly for how things pan out in PoA).**

 **Comment?**

 **-OL.**


	6. Hogsmeade

"You and Harry seem to be becoming good friends," Parvati commented one lunch time. Violet's gaze flickered up from her food briefly to meet her friend's eyes across the table. Her response then came down to a shrug.

It wasn't that big a deal. After the Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson that one time, they found that they had a few things in common and decided to talk a bit more. Whenever Ron sat with Hermione in lessons, Harry might come and take the empty seat next to Violet too; it definitely helped that they both shared a love for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and it began to make lessons more entertaining for the both of them even though they were entertained enough by them anyway.

"I'm not judging, by the way," Parvati then added.

"I know… I just wasn't expecting you to bring it up is all." Violet began to dig at her food again. "Besides, he's interesting. I like watching him."

She knew she had picked the wrong words as soon as they left her mouth, therefore her cheeks turned a deep red colour – that was a rare thing to happen to Violet. "That is – that is _not_ what I meant."

Parvati was stifling a giggle. "I know, but it still sounds like you have a crush on him."

"What?! Why would you – damn it." In her shock at the statement, she had managed to knock over her goblet of pumpkin juice, and now it was dripping down over the side of the table and into her lap. She sloppily tried to mop it up with the sleeve of her cloak; that worked surprisingly well.

"Calm down, I don't actually think you do."

"Good." A frown crossed Violet's face. "Besides, I only meant… I like people watching."

"Really?"

"Yes. I do it all the time. You just don't notice because you think I'm just staring into space," Violet pointed out to her friend, now finishing the last of her lunch. She rose from the bench and picked up her satchel, slinging it over her shoulder. "I'm going to go do some work before Charms. I'll see you then."

She left before Parvati could question anything else, or make random assumptions. They were barely even fourteen years old, she didn't have time or patience or the want or need to start crushing on someone. Parvati may not have meant it, but it bothered Violet more than she cared to admit. To some that would mean something, to others it would mean that she was simply annoyed. She fell into the latter category.

Lost in her own thoughts, Violet barely registered the fact that she had made it to the library. Finding a nice little corner, she set herself up to do some homework for the next forty five minutes. She worked through it quite aggressively as ever, thankful for the fact that nobody came to disturb her, until…

"Mind if I join you?"

Violet glanced up at the face of Hermione Granger, laden with several heavy books. The girl at the table nodded and silently moved her things so that there was more room for the bushy haired girl standing in front of her.

"I saw you come in looking a bit… frustrated. I wondered if you were alright, but you seemed busy," Hermione said carefully, flipping open one of her books and getting her parchment and quill out.

"I… I'm still busy," Violet said quietly. Hermione didn't say another word after that, and the two girls sat in silence, the only sound was the scratching of the quills on their parchment paper. When it was time to go the Charms, they packed up in silence and didn't say a word to one another as they made their way to the classroom.

Violet couldn't tell if it was uncomfortable or nice.

* * *

Excitement was brewing among the third years as the first trip to Hogsmeade was coming up, and they were all looking forward to finally getting off the grounds. As much as they loved Hogwarts, the fact they had to stay in the castle throughout their first and second years felt a little bit constricting, in a way.

Besides, it meant they could stock up on sweets until their second trip to the village. Those with permission from their parents to go were all wrapped as warm as they needed to be for the late October air in the Clocktower Courtyard, listening to some last minute rules from McGonagall that they had to follow while they were off the grounds.

"It's almost like they trust us… but at the same time they don't," Violet commented, causing her friends to chuckle.

"We're students, they're never going to fully trust us when you think about it," Lavender replied.

"True."

The crowd was beginning to disperse, so the girls took this as an okay to finally get going. There was a lot of general babble on the way down to the castle gate – everyone seemed to be talking about what shops they would go into, what they would buy, and how long they think they'd spend there.

It felt like they were actually independent human beings now, which was a nice thought for a bunch of fourteen year olds.

The group of girls linked arms as they made their way up the long, straight road to Hogsmeade; a generic thing to do, yes, but they didn't fancy losing each other in the crowd.

Once actually arriving at Hogsmeade, most of the third years made a beeline for Honeydukes, meaning that Violet and her friends decided _not_ to go there for the time being. That could wait until later – it would work out better for them anyway. They all knew they'd end up buying more sweets than they could carry, and so saving Honeydukes until last was the best idea.

The first port of call was Zonko's. The majority in that shop seemed to be boys, and the girls spied Fred, George, and Lee Jordan muttering in a corner as they browsed. That trio were probably planning their next school wide prank – it wouldn't surprise anybody if something happened around Halloween.

After browsing and not buying, the girls had a small wander before coming across a Madam Puddifoot's tea shop. Most couples seemed to be congregating there, causing them all to laugh a little. Parvati even playfully nudged Violet in the ribs with her elbow, much to the latter girl's annoyance – she was entirely unamused.

Then they went to the Shrieking Shack.

That was an interesting experience and a half.

Anybody else who was there kept on spouting out facts about it being the "most haunted building in Britain," or words to that effect.

"Why _is_ it haunted?" Lavender asked. "Who died there and decided not to leave?"

"I don't know, I heard it was one of the villagers from a long time ago," Padma said.

"The one they said was like Ebenezer Scrooge?" Violet added. She was feeling broody, and leaning against the wooden fence staring at the Shack, but she turned towards her friends when she said that.

"Something like that. Old, mean, rich… sounds like the perfect contender to haunt somewhere like _that._ Want to get closer?"

"I'm fine here, thanks. You guys go on ahead." The look on Violet's face turned from broody to glum, and her friends didn't think too much of it in their excitement and went on ahead. A few of the other students had the same idea in mind.

She stood and watched the lonely building deep in thought.

" _Do you want to hear a story?"_

" _...Okay."_

 _It was quite late at night for a seven year old girl – nine o'clock at night on Halloween, to be precise – but because it was Halloween and her parents were out, Violet had been allowed to stay up a little later. She had been sitting on the floor reading a book, but as soon as Lupin had suggested a story, she went bounding over to him and hopped up onto the sofa next to him._

 _She stared up at him with large eyes, quite expectantly too._

" _Since it's Halloween, do you want a scary story?"_

 _Violet nodded eagerly._

" _You won't get too scared, will you?" He raised an eyebrow._

" _Nope. I never get scared."_

 _A child's courage. It was always something quite wonderful to behold._

" _Alright then… hmm…" Lupin sat in thought for a moment. "Okay. So there's a village near Hogwarts called Hogsmeade, and in Hogsmeader there's a house – well, sort of a house. It's a shack. It's called the Shrieking Shack by everyone there. Do you know why?"_

" _Does a ghost live there?" she asked him._

" _Surprisingly, no." Lupin was beginning to question why he was telling her this story, considering he was about to embellish on facts from his own life. She wouldn't pick up on it now, but in a few years she'd be able to put the pieces together. Violet was a clever girl, he wouldn't be shocked if she did figure it out for herself. "There was a boy who lived in the village – nobody knew who he was – and he was very ill. You see, every full moon he would turn into a werewolf."_

" _Oh. That's sad. I thought you said it was going to be scary?"_

" _It is, trust me." This was already beginning to test his patience. "Hmm… every time he knew he was going to become a wolf, he would go to that house and transform in there. He would howl on purpose to scare the nearby villagers – he often made an extra effort on Halloween, just because he could." Yes, it may have been all lies what he was saying right now, but he was turning it into a nice, themed story for her. Lupin even winked when he mentioned the line about Halloween, and it made the girl laugh._

" _Make it more scary! Please?"_

" _One Halloween, the werewolf broke free from the Shack. He went round knocking on people's doors and howling and screaming and terrifying people. Then all of a sudden it stopped.. They say they can hear the wolf still howling, and that on Halloween there's still a knocking on their doors, or a growling under their bed..."_

 _Violet's eyes grew wide with terror, and she shrank back in her seat, making her look even smaller than she actually was. Her courage was gone now._

" _Is there a wolf under_ my _bed?"_

 _Lupin simply laughed, and patted his lap. She scrabbled onto it and he gave her a gentle hug. "Definitely not. Not while I'm around."_

"Violet? You okay?"

She was jolted out of her thoughts by Lavender. They'd returned from their walk a bit closer to the Shack.

It was funny how close to true Lupin's story had been.

"Yeah… yeah, I'm fine," she said, still a bit faraway. "Let's go Honeydukes, I want to feel my teeth decay as I sleep."

A smile on her face, the four of them wandered off back towards the village.

* * *

Violet saw Harry sitting by himself in the Great Hall by the time they got back from Hogsmeade, just in time for dinner. Hermione and Ron weren't back yet so she walked up to him and dumped a load of sweets on the table in front of him. He jumped and looked up at her, and she just smiled.

"It was hard not to notice you weren't with them," Violet explained. "Enjoy your sweets, Potter."

With those words, she moved back towards her friends a little further down the table, just as Ron and Hermione made their way in.

Dinner passed quickly, what with all the Hogsmeade chatter still in effect, and then everyone made their way back to the common rooms as per usual. Except something was clearly wrong when the girls came across the crowd on the stairwell that led directly up towards the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Who forgot the password again and why isn't anyone helping them?" Parvati groaned, while Violet leaned against the bannister, sighing.

"There's always that one guy..."

"Probably Neville."

"Nah, Neville's behind us," Padma pointed out.

"Then what's going on?!" Violet stood a little straighter, suddenly interested in the situation more so now. She noticed Percy shoving his way through the crowd, Dumbledore and Filch making their way up too.

That was when people made startled noises.

"Okay, this is worse than someone just forgetting the password?"

She saw Ginny Weasley tell Harry, Ron, and Hermione something, so Violet reached out and grabbed the dark-haired boy's arm and pulled him towards her.

"What's going on?"

"The Fat Lady's gone."

* * *

 **I was struggling to write this chapter the other night. Not sure why, but then in our group chat, the lovely MayFairy suggested I write a flashback between Remus/Violet - not necessarily as part of the chapter, but then I decided to do it as part of the chapter. So thank you darling!**

 **Comment?**

 **-OL.**


	7. Snape

Of course, there was an uproar in the castle that night – at least, for a moment while everyone worried about the fact that Sirius Black had broken into the school – before Dumbledore managed to calm down the entire school by spreading a few words. It were as if it was _magic._

The Gryffindors slept in the Great Hall that night, while the security around the castle was doubled; that included several locking charms on every door into the castle, the castle gates itself, and owls being sent off for yet even _more_ Dementors to guard the school.

It was safe to say that nobody got an easy rest that night, and it showed the next day when the Gryffindors were finally allowed back in the tower after the staff managed to coax the Fat Lady back to her painting – she had demanded to be protected. Trolls, was what she got.

As ever in the evening, Violet was curled up in one of the cosy armchairs by the fire after finishing homework and reading a book. Every now and then she'd glance up over the top of it whenever she heard something mildly interesting or amusing about the whole situation. Albeit, it was hard to find something amusing about Sirius Black breaking into their school and slashing up a painting. Perhaps the amusement was her finding that people were completely overreacting to it all, thinking that they were going to the the next to die.

It was far too morbid, and she found it quite funny.

"I don't think you're quite his type for murder but okay..." she mumbled to herself after one particular comment. It only occurred to her in that moment that cynicism and sarcasm was her way of dealing with a murderer being on the loose.

"What was that?" Hermione piped up from the table behind her, her head poking above the wall of books she had created.

"Nothing," Violet replied in a sing-song voice.

"Hmmm..."

Violet didn't see the frown that Hermione gave her, but Hermione gave her a frown nonetheless. On the other hand, she could feel the insane amount of scrutiny coming from the bushy-haired girl.

A few days later, everything calmed down properly. Things were about as back to normal as they could get (although Care of Magical Creature classes were something to be spoken for). Although since things had quietened down, it meant that Violet couldn't really make comments to entertain herself.

The weather had started getting colder too, since it was drawing near winter. It meant that there was no chance of Violet going to sit outside during lunch on her own, so she took to the library for alone time instead. Admittedly, it did worry her that people would very easily approach her, but making herself look busy would deter any possible distractions.

She very carefully accepted company from Harry and Ron at times. It seemed like there was some sort of rift between Ron and Hermione, namely to do with the girl's cat and Ron's rat. It was all a bit silly, but hearing Ron moan about it and Harry make appropriate noises of agreement was quite funny to Violet.

"Maybe your rat just ran away," Violet said in an offhand manner one day. That stopped the conversation, and the boys stared at her. She peeked over the top of her Ancient Runes book. "What?"

"I would have found him by now!"

Violet raised an eyebrow. "He's a _rat._ This is a _castle._ Do you really think you would have found him by now if he had ran away? Besides, I'm in the same dorm as Hermione, and I've not seen Crookshanks drag in rats. Only birds, so far."

"That's not helping!" Ron huffed.

"Well, it should. I've not seen any dead rats."

Meanwhile, Harry was sitting at their table trying to hide a smirk, which Ron picked up on.

"What's so funny?"

"She's got a point, you know," Harry said after a moment.

"I'm full of them," Violet remarked, beginning to pack up her books. "And if we're not careful, we're going to be late for Defense Against the Dark Arts. I personally don't want to end up in Lupin's bad books."

The boys were following her lead. "Hm, don't think anyone could end up in Lupin's bad books," Harry murmured.

Since she had packed her bag and turned her back when standing up, they didn't notice the uncomfortable face she pulled.

The conversation about Scabbers and Crookshanks carried on all the way to the third floor, Violet leading the way and rolling her eyes about the whole thing. Weirdly enough, they arrived to class and there was no Lupin in sight. Everyone was just sitting in their seats and chattering away quietly.

Violet immediately beelined for the empty desk, which led to Ron sitting next to Neville and Harry next to her. They pulled out their textbooks like everyone else had and waited. Before they could even start speaking, the door seemed to crash open, and Snape came billowing down the aisle, using his wand to close the shutters on the windows along the way.

When he got to the front, he pulled down a slide and turned on a projector.

"Turn to page three hundred and ninety four."

Harry and Ron glanced at each other across the gap, while Violet quickly flicked to the correct page, her heart seemingly jumping into her throat when she saw what was on the page. Harry flipped through his book at a fair pace, while Ron was turning it page by page.

"Oh come on..." she groaned quietly.

"Problem, Miss Holland?" Snape asked from the front of the class, and Violet froze for a second.

"No, sir, none at all."

"Then turn to page _three hundred and ninety four_."

"Excuse me, sir, but where's Professor Lupin?" Harry finally asked the question that the entire class was thinking.

Snape hesitated a moment before answering. "That's not really your concern, is it Potter? Suffice to say your professor finds himself incapable of teaching at the present time. _Turn to page three hundred and ninety four!_ "

At this point, Violet got out a piece of parchment and her quill, writing at the top of the page ' _How many times Snape says 394_ ' and marking a tally of three. When Harry stared blankly down at the paper in surprise, she shrugged and slipped it under her book.

Apparently growing impatient with how slow Ron was, Snape jerked his wand at the boy's book so it more or less flew to the correct page. He jolted, and looked at the page in mild confusion.

"Werewolves?!" he exclaimed.

"But sir," Hermione began. Immediately, everyone turned to face her. She was sitting what had been a previously empty seat next to Lavender, and Violet and Harry had no idea what to make of her sudden entrance. "We've just started learning about Red Caps and Hinkypunks. We're not meant to start nocturnal beasts for weeks-"

"Quiet..." Snape warned, just as his slideshow on the projector began, showing various pictures of men and beasts, occasionally the two combining.

"I'm going mad, aren't I?" Violet whispered to Harry.

"Did you see her come in?" Ron leaned towards the two of them, clearly a little upset by this. Harry didn't know how to respond.

"Alright, so it's not just me then," Violet replied in relief, before raising her hand.

"Yes, Miss Holland?" Snape seemed put out by the fact she wanted to ask a question.

"What's the date today, sir?"

"The 29th of November, you've had a whole day of lessons so _surely_ you would know that by now." Unimpressed, of course, but that told her everything she needed – it was a full moon that night.

"Sorry sir, I must have gotten out of the wrong side of bed today..."

"Now which of you can tell me the difference between an Animagus and a Werewolf?" He completely glossed over her comment.

Only Hermione and Violet raised their hands this time.

"No one? How disappointing..." Somehow, he managed to look even _more_ unimpressed than before.

"Please, sir," Hermione started, lowering her hand. Violet sighed and dropped hers too, waiting for Snape to dock them points just because Hermione knew her stuff. "An Animagus is a wizard who _elects_ to turn into an animal. A werewolf has no choice. With each full moon he no longer remembers who is, and he'd kill best friend if it came to it. Furthermore, the werewolf only responds to the call of it's own kind–"

Malfoy, who had been pretty quiet up until then, let out a very loud howl, causing his cronies to chuckle.

"Thank you, Mr Malfoy," Snape said, before turning his attention back to Hermione, "That's the second time you've spoken out of turn, Miss Granger. Are you incapable of restraining yourself or do you take pride in being an insufferable know it all?"

Violet turned to look towards Hermione to see the other girl looked put out – and rightly so.

"He's got a point, you know..." Ron hissed to Harry.

"Five points from Gryffindor." He began to wander around the classroom.

All the Gryffindors in the room groaned.

"As an antidote to your ignorance, and on my desk by Monday morning _two_ rolls of parchment on the werewolf, with emphasis on recognizing it," Snape then carried on as he made his way towards the back of the room.

That had the entire _room_ groaning.

"But sir, it's Quidditch tomorrow," Harry said as Snape approached their desk. Violet face planted into her textbook the minute Harry opened his mouth.

"Then I suggest you take _extra care_ , Mr Potter. Loss of limb will not excuse you page three hundred and ninety four," Snape told him through gritted teeth before resuming his room walkabout.

Violet rose from her textbook and pulled the sheet of parchment out from under it, marking another tally.

Something fluttered and landed on their desk – checking the direction it came from, the teens saw Malfoy smirking at them. Harry unfolded the piece of paper to see it was a very crude, moving drawing him on a broomstick and being struck by lightning.

"He needs to give up..." Violet whispered, and then Snape carried on with the lesson.

It was mainly him talking at them, so most of the class made notes on what they could. Emphasis on most. Everything they really needed was in the textbook so some thought there was no point in actually writing anything down, although they did pretend to be making notes if Snape started wandering around again and looming over them to check they were doing _some_ work and were paying attention.

Violet couldn't help but realise that Snape had done this whole lesson on purpose, and was probably trying to see if anybody else would notice what was odd about Lupin's absence. For the moment, it didn't seem like anybody had, which was a good thing.

She caught Snape's eye towards the end of the lesson, and all he did was glare at her. Clearly, he knew that she knew. She debated whether or not to say something when the lesson did finally finish, but considering he _still glared at her_ when she looked over towards him once again, Violet thought it best not. She'd probably end up with a detention.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked on their way out.

She and Harry shrugged. "No idea," said the latter.

"Violet, can I talk to you about something?" Hermione had come up behind the girl and grabbed her arm.

"Uh, yeah, but we're gonna be late for Charms–"

Hermione shook her head. "That doesn't matter, Flitwick won't mind."

The four of them had stopped in the middle of the corridor, and Violet looked helplessly at Harry and Ron before allowing Hermione to drag her off somewhere private.

Surely the week couldn't get any weirder, could it?

* * *

 **Sorry for the... long absence... woops. Not meant to happen. I've been writing more recently so I'm hoping for more frequent updates.**

 **Hope you liked this one!**

 **-OL.**


	8. Quidditch

"Hermione!" Violet tried to wrestle her wrist out of the other girl's grip. "Hermione, slow down!"

The other girl didn't listen and continued on until they found an empty classroom. Hermione flung the pair of them inside and slammed the door shut, pulling out her wand and locking it. Violet stared at her.

"Sorry," Hermione said sheepishly. "I don't want anybody walking in."

"Why? What's wrong?" Violet perched herself on the edge of a desk, watching Hermione pace up and down in front of her; clearly she was contemplating how best to explain what was going through her head.

"Don't you think it's strange how Snape decided to skip straight to werewolves today?" she started off. Violet gulped – she knew where this was going. "I mean, Lupin's absent and he decided not to teach us the set material for our lesson. You keep a diary, don't you?"

She frowned. "No…?"

"I mean – a Muggle one. With calendars in it. I've seen you with one before, Violet. Do you still keep one?"

"Well..." Violet opened her satchel and pulled out a pristine notebook. "I don't write in it anymore, but it helps with the illusion of productivity..." She handed it over to the girl who flicked through until she got to today's date.

"There!" She pointed at it. "Full moon tonight. Can you remember the other times Professor Lupin's been absent?"

Violet gritted her teeth and shrugged, but Hermione wasn't falling for it.

"Violet… what do you know?"

She sighed. "A lot."

"And?"

"You're not wrong..." she said carefully.

Hermione handed the book back to her, and she put it away. "How long have you known?"

"Since I was about eight years old, I should think."

Silence.

"Oh my god, Violet!" was all Hermione could say when she realised what her friend meant.

"And before you say anything – yes, you were right to think there was something weird about the way I acted around Lupin. Although you cannot say a word, otherwise I'll be done for!" Violet pleaded with her friend. "And you can't say anything about him being a werewolf, nobody'll like it!"

Hermione nodded. "I know. I wouldn't do that, he's the best teacher we've ever had! If Dumbledore hired him… that means he's safe on full moons."

"He takes Wolfsbane so he's docile when he turns," Violet got out her wand and pointed it at the door. "Alohamora!"

It clicked open and the girls made their way out.

"If you must know, he hadn't forgotten to take it on the night I found out. I don't really remember much, only that he scratched me and that was that. Come on, we're already late for Charms..."

* * *

Naturally, Hermione was true to her word, and Violet never even doubted it for a second. Over the weekend, they would share the occasional look, but they barely spoke. The Gryffindors found it odd that there was a lack of verbal communication between those two girls, but let it slide. They'd not really spoken masses, but considering they shared a dorm… it was odd to witness.

There was no time for chit chat over the weekend anyway – between Snape's essay and Dementors guarding the doors – there was also Quidditch.

Trust one of the first matches of the year for Gryffindor to fall on a rainy day. Well, more than just a rainy day.

"Nobody's going to die, are they?" Violet asked Lavender on their way down to the Quidditch pitch in the onslaught of terrible weather.

"Don't think so!"

"Damn it..." Violet muttered.

"What was that?"

"Don't worry!" she grinned falsely at her friend, who eyed her suspiciously before thinking nothing of it.

By the time they reached the stands, they were completely soaked. Umbrellas were useless, and there was no need for the hoods on the coats to be up – the rain was relentless, and not one bit of them was dry.

If it was hard for the crowd to see, how hard was it going to be for the players to see?

Either way, the players had probably figured something out.

When the match started, so did the incessant chanting. It was Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, so there was less animosity than there usually would be.

Violet had no care for Quidditch – it could be brutal as hell and she didn't like it when the Bludgers flew too near to the stands; more accurately, too near to her face. She just thought it was lucky that Fred and George were actually good Beaters – she couldn't imagine what it would be like as a Chaser or Seeker to have a bloody Bludger flying after you half the time.

If anything, that was also a reason to admire Quidditch players, because they flew around on broomsticks with balls flying at them here, there, and everywhere. Violet was surprised she hadn't seen more people fall off their brooms while playing the damn game.

Still, she cheered on Gryffindor, despite the fact she could barely see what was actually going on.

The game dragged on for some time until a strange sense of cold swept over everybody, and a body was seen falling from far too high up in the sky.

Silence.

Violet could have face palmed, considering her earlier comment about someone possibly dying in this weather.

Before the body could hit the ground, something slowed it's descent, and she wondered who it could have been – in fact, she could probably guess, especially going by how shocked Hermione was.

Since Violet cared so little for Quidditch, she hadn't exactly memorised each player's number, but it appeared obvious from the reactions of her classmates that Harry had been the one to tumble from his broom.

They were all soon ushered out from the stadium and Violet noticed Dementors making their way back towards the front gate – where they should have been that entire time. She was certain she saw a rather angry looking Dumbledore too. Instead of going back to Gryffindor Tower with her main friends, she tagged along with Hermione and Ron to the Hospital Wing – she wanted to see if Harry was alright.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team went too, and the hoard of students appeared to arrive shortly after Harry's unconscious body and some of the staff members did. They all waited patiently near his bed for him to come round, but things were about to get worse.

Professors Flitwick and McGonagall came back about an hour later with something bundled up in a blanket, and they sadly handed it over to Hermione and Ron.

"Oh no..." Hermione sighed when she saw the contents of the blanket. "What happened?"

"I'm afraid Mr Potter's broomstick took quite the battering from the Whomping Willow," McGonagall told her, her voice wavering a little. "There's nothing we can do to repair it. And I believe in the confusion of everything going on, Mr Diggory caught the Snitch and thus won the match."

Hermione nodded and set it down on the empty bed next to Harry's. Oliver Wood was shaking his head in disbelief at the fact the player with the best broom no longer had it – what on earth were they going to do now?! – Especially with _Hufflepuff_ winning the match...

Before anyone could say anything, they heard movement from Harry's bed and everyone gathered around it.

"He looks peaky," Ron said, and Violet rolled her eyes.

"Really, now?" she said. "Not as if he just fell off his broom or anything..."

"Yeah Ron, how about we walk you off the Astronomy Tower and see how you look," said Fred.

"Probably a right sight better than he normally does..." Harry murmured, and everyone sighed in relief as he sat up and put on his glasses.

"How are you feeling?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, brilliant."

"You gave us a right good scare," said one of the Weasley twins.

"What happened?"

"Well, you fell off your broom..." Ron replied. Violet was pretty certain that she wasn't the only one who wanted to slap him upside the head.

"No, really? I meant the match, who won?"

"No one blames you, Harry," Hermione started, "Dementors aren't supposed to be on the grounds. Dumbledore was furious – as soon as he saved you, he sent them straight off."

"There's also..." Violet's gaze drifted over to the broken apart broomstick on the bed. Ron fetched it and brought it over to show Harry, more or less dumping it on his bed – there really was no easy way to explain this. "Not much can be done about it."

"We're all really sorry, Harry."

What followed was a deadly silence as Harry looked upon his beloved, destroyed broomstick. Eventually, someone broke the silence.

"I won't lie, I've always thought nothing good can come out of Quidditch," Violet said.

Everyone turned to look at her like she was crazy.

All she did was shrug.

* * *

 **Long time no see, sorry! So many other things kept popping up and yeah.**

 **Comment?**

 **-OL.**


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